JR: A Long Way Down
by MegaFnar
Summary: Jonah Riley was the best Shadow Broker operative in a long time, but when he is given his last job he believes he may share his final pay-check with two of his best friends and most trusted companions... Yet things go wrong, very quickly...


**Prologue:**

One Big Mess

12:43 January 2182

Veos Prime – Karta System

The burning wreckage of the SSV Pariah was a truly morbid sight, an entire valley covered in a burning inferno with large pieces of debris, jutting out like mauled fangs. From the top of the valley, the chaos was closely observed by three lone figures, one a Batarian with a shotgun slung over his shoulder. The other two were humans, one tweaking the scope on his sniper rifle, the other sitting down and resting his elbow on his knee.

"Beautiful, ain't she?" the Batarian asked.

"A work of art; makes me wanna' start crying." the sitting man replied and smirked while the wind blew through his messy, long, brown hair.

"You two do realise what happens now?" the man with the sniper rifle looked at his companions judgmentally.

"I think we have a pretty good reminder in front of us." The Batarian replied and motioned towards the searing wreckage.

"Indeed" the sitting man acknowledged his companion and, with a bullet-shaped lighter, lit up a cigarette.

The man with the rifle now got irritated and confronted his sitting partner "I don't know about you Jonah, but I personally want to return to my old life!"

"Oh take a fucking chill pill dickweed!" Jonah replied and stood up "What will you return to Mordecai? Huh? Doing small time jobs for uptights like Aria back on Omega?"

"Well it would beat having the entire Systems Alliance and the Shadow Broker on our ass!" Mordecai retorted and slotted his rifle back on his shoulder.

"Ok, fine! I admit that perhaps some of the stuff that happened last three months ago wasn't the best!" replied Jonah.

"Like the raid? Or the betrayal? Or maybe the fucking Special Tasks Force pinning us down for 17 hours?" Mordecai shot back.

"And the Varren horde." the Batarian added.

"Thanks Kerath..." Jonah sighed and looked at the Batarian.

"No problem." Kerath cheerfully grinned with his sharp teeth back at Jonah.

Mordecai sighed and kneeled down and stared into the wreckage "You told me that this were to be our last job, with your reputation back then, I believed it possible... That was three months ago, and currently we are sitting in the biggest clusterfuck ever."

"Just like the good old days: Hell left, right and centre." Kerath laughed and slapped Mordecai on the back.

A small smile appeared on Mordecai's face and he stood up "Indeed it seems so..."

Kerath and Mordecai both looked at Jonah: Jonah Riley, the man who was the most skilled tactitian and fighter they both have ever seen and also the man who had the uncanny ability to get into all sorts of trouble. Jonah looked back and the rubbed his chin and looked over the wreckage again.

"This thing crashed 3 hours ago." He stated "That gives us roundabouts one hour to get into a tactical position before the Alliance, and most likely the Shadow Broker's Mercs show up to give us a bad case of death."

Kerath looked around and then pointed at some protruding peaks in the distance "Altitude means advantage. Any takers?"

"I'm game." Jonah replied.

"Then count me in as well." Mordecai acknowledged.

As the three men started jogging towards the mountains Jonah took one last drag from his cigarette and threw it on the ground, he then looked around and asked "You know this makes me wonder... How the hell did we get into this situation?"

Kerath quickly responded "My guess would be that it all started the three months ago that you asked me to join you."

Mordecai evened his short jet black hair and chuckled "I knew something like this will happen again when you approached me three months ago."

Jonah smiled "At first you were quite adamant with the word NO."

Mordecai shook his head "What made me join again, I'll never understand."

Jonah looked at Mordecai and grinned "You are the best sharpshooter in the Terminus, I wouldn't want anyone else to watch my back. Besides, you also probably like the look of me naked."

Mordecai snidely smiled back "Nope, just your mother."

"Ouch!" Kerath loudly laughed as the three battle-scarred men continued their debate of what over last three months led them to this point.

The three figures disappeared into the mountains, ready to face, whatever is coming next.


End file.
